Top 10 Burgers

It’s a burger place! No it’s an upscale NY City lounge! Those were the thoughts we had as we entered this month’s BOTM night location. POP Burger is one of those places that is trying its very best to project a polished upscale image. Or at least half of one. When you enter the POP Burger on 9th Avenue just north of 14th Street (there is another location at 14 East 58th street just east of 5th Ave), you immediately feel the split personality of the place. On the left is a small, (somewhat) casual area with tables and a counter that you can order burgers from. On the right is an entrance to an upscale lounge. Did two people get together and say let’s go into business together and one said, ‘I want to open a burger joint’, and the other said ‘I want to open a lounge’, and presto: POP Burger?... read more

7/6/10 - Glenwood Pines Restaurant - T-Shirt Next Time...A couple months ago, some emails started circulating amongst a group of friends from my undergraduate days that we were due for a boys weekend away to the old stomping grounds, Cornell University in Ithaca. It didn’t take long – maybe the 3rd or 4th email – for someone to mention the hallowed grounds of The Glenwood Pines Restaurant on Route 89 in Ithaca, NY... read more

4/18/10 - Off the Beaten Path - 4th Edition - Garden Burger - When you hear the words, “floor seats for the Knicks”, certain things come to mind. The glitz, the glamour, Spike Lee, Woody Allen, celebrities, the Knicks dancers. . .and. . .a burger? Well, maybe not a burger, and after sampling the Madison Square Garden burger you would be right to ignore it... read more

4/11/10 - Pizza Burger - My quest to cook, eat & review different iterations of the “burger” (Check out my Pita Burger and Grilled Cheese Bacon Burger) has led me to try a classic – the pizza burger. The cool part about the pizza burger is that you can get really creative with it – because pizza is such a flexible thing where you can order it with so many different types of toppings and things – so really, a pizza burger is just as flexible. I chose to keep it pretty traditional here (as I have never made a pizza burger before) and all I did was include sauce, cheese and pepperoni. I do however think that there is a restaurant idea here for a menu of all different types of spins on the pizza burger that includes customized combinations of toppings, different spices like oregano or those hot red pepper flakes or grated parmesan etc.… anyway, a guy can dream can’t he?... read more

4/4/10 - Off the Beaten Path - 3rd Edition - Kefi Restaurant - When you think of a burger, certain types of restaurants come to mind. A bar, a steakhouse, a fast food joint, a casual chain restaurant, are just a few examples of what likely pops into one’s head. But a Greek restaurant, known for it’s meze spreads including eggplant and chickpea? Likely not. Perhaps, however, it should. Because Kefi restaurant, on the upper west side, makes as good a burger as any pub in the City... read more

4/3/10 - World's Best Burger? - I was in New Orleans a short while ago and while walking down Bourbon Street, I came across a sign that said ‘Hamburgers World’s Best’. It was hanging in front of a place called Clover Grille. I had to go in. The place was a small diner type location with a dozen counter seats and half a dozen booths. It was late and I had been out with friends for hours. If this was the World’s Best Hamburger, I had to have one... read more

3/14/10 - Grilled Cheese Bacon Burger - My quest to cook, eat & review different iterations of the “burger” (Check out my Pita Burger) has led me to a creation that I have read about on a few different websites – and it peaked my interest. The idea is that you make two griddle flattened grilled cheese sandwiches (each with bacon) and use them as the top and bottom bun of a bacon cheese burger. Whoever came up with this idea was a true innovator – a new personal hero of mine. What a great idea…. Give it a try at home and let me know what you think of it... read more

3/12/10 - Who Got the Remaining Three Quarters of the Cow? - Like most things, being married to a graduate of the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University has its pluses and minuses. Take for instance, using a public bathroom. This used to be a fairly easy thing to do. Now, I need a Masters degree in Operations Management to figure out how I’m going to successfully relieve myself without touching anything, including the door. Riding the subway during the summer is fun because I look like Jeremy Renner in “Hurt Locker”, fully protected from all railings and poles... read more

3/1/10 - BOTM Reviews Rub BBQ - For the second month in a row we tried a thin ‘burger stand’ type burger. Rub BBQ on West 23rd street offers a 5oz, caste iron, pan cooked patty burger that we heard was worth a visit. Turns out that our group was split on whether that was true or not. Actually, of the 50+ burgers we have reviewed over the past 5+ years, the burger at Rub received the widest range of rankings from the BOTM members... read more

2/20/10 - A Trip to Petey's Burger - Although I am a member of The BOTM Club, I have a number of other friends who are burger lovers and I recently I joined a group of them on a quest to Petey’s Burger, a new burger joint that opened recently in the Astoria section of Queens. A few of us had heard about Petey’s and the thin patty, griddle-cooked burgers they offer, so off we went, on a Petey’s Burger quest. They claim that their concept was conceived in Southern California. Hmmmm... read more

2/10/10 - BOTM Interviewed for Article in BEEF Magazine - BOTM was contacted by a writer from the magazine BEEF, a popular German publication which specializes in steaks, meat, and of course burgers. It's a cutting edge magazine that often features scantily clad women enjoying huge cuts of beef. Political correctness would probably keep the magazine from crossing into our borders, but we can only hope... read more

2/6/10 - Is a Pita Burger Really a Burger? Adam Finds Out - As promised in my blog last month, I will be preparing a different iteration of the “burger” each month - and sharing not only the recipe with you – but also my opinions/thoughts/review. To all my fellow unhealthy eaters out there, let me begin by assuring you that my future burgers will not be quite this healthy (to put your minds at ease)... read more

1/30/10 - Marc and BOTM Featured in Multichannel News - Starz Media senior vice president of digital media, business development and strategy Marc DeBevoise has parlayed a healthy appetite for good burgers into a potentially lucrative sideline... read more

1/24/10 - Dave Reviews Burgers Accessible by Metro North - Our quest is to find the best burger in the 5 boroughs. However, since I'm no longer a resident of the NYC, I thought I'd take the opportunity to mention a couple places that I've found north of the Big Apple that serve some pretty damn good hamburguesas.... read more

1/18/10 - BOTM Reviews Bill's Bar and Burger - Can the restaurant group that brought us Blue Water Grill, Ruby Foo’s, and Dos Caminos give us a good snack bar, griddle type burger? Well, we wanted to find out. Bill’s Bar and Burger is part of the B.R. Guest Restaurant family. They already have a spot in the BOTM’s Top Ten with their Park Avenue steak place, Primehouse, but Bill’s is different. This is not a 10oz steak burger; nope, with Bill’s, B.R. Guest is aiming for a casual, lower priced burger offering... read more

1/17/10 - A Visit To Louis' Lunch - the Place Many Agree Invented the Hamburger - Opening in 1895, Louis' Lunch put itself on the map in 1900 with what they claim, and many agree, was the invention of the burger. As Louis' explains... read more

1/12/10 - Off the Beaten Path - 2nd Edition - Steak and Shake - Welcome to the second edition of Off the Beaten Path, where BOTM takes burger lovers somewhere they wouldn’t quite expect. This edition is a tad different in that the place selected is actually a burger place, however, for BOTM it is certainly off the beaten path... read more

1/10/10 - Burger Heavyweights Visit Rub BBQ - I was thrilled to see an e-mail from Rev in early December rounding up the troops for our 3rd Burgercon. This time, the group included Adam from A Hamburger Today, Rev & Jackie from Burger Conquest, George Motz from Hamburger America, Nick Solares from Beef Aficionado, Josh Ozersky from The Feedbag, and myself and Adam from BOTM... read more

1/9/10 - Jason Revisits Rare - Rare has a very special place in BOTM's history - it is the first place that the group officially visited back in 2005 upon formation. Unfortunately, the group did not find the burger to live up to its lofty reputation. But, that was five years ago, and fortunately I had reason to return... read more

1/3/10 - Let's Talk About Hamburgers in Hollywood - There have been a number of documentaries that either focus on, or incorporate the hamburger. For the purposes of this article, let’s keep it light, and start our journey into the hamburger in Hollywood... read more

12/23/09 - BOTM Launches Off the Beaten Path - Street Cart - In this series we will attempt to locate, order, and eat burgers in places that you might not expect to find them... read more

12/7/09 - What is a Burger? I say that the “burger” is actually the most flexibly and loosely defined food in the world – and I think that is why I am so intrigued by them. It is not very easy to answer the question “what is a burger”. Here is why it is so difficult... read more

8/31/09 - BOTM Checks Out La Cense Burger Truck - On a sunny and breezy August day, Jed and Adam (and temporary BOTM member Mike) decided to check out the much hyped La Cense Burger Truck. For those who don’t know, the La Cense Burger Truck is a new edition to the food cart/truck scene in New York... read more

7/25/09 - My Date with BOTM - Most 30-somethings in NYC have tried one form of online dating or matchmaking in their dating life – well recently I took it to the next level when one member of the BOTM club caught my eye while watching them on the Today Show... read more

7/7/09 - BOTM Meets Bobby Flay and Attends Opening of Bobby's Burger Palace - 'When most people see a map of the country, they see states or regions. I see ingredients’. That was one of Bobby Flay’s first comments as he addressed the media and crowd at the press conference that included the opening of his fourth ‘Bobby’s Burger Palace’ (BBP) restaurant. ... read more

7/1/09 - BOTM Attends Opening of Bobby Van's Grille at JFK - I have to admit, I was a bit skeptical when I heard that Jason, Marc and I were venturing out to JFK airport to celebrate the recent opening of Bobby Van's Grille at the American Airlines Terminal 8... read more

6/14/09 - BOTM Featured on The Today Show - "This is one of the most exclusive and talked about clubs in NYC." - Jenna Wolfe, The Today Show... watch video

6/13/09 - Burger Heavyweights Visit Trailer Park - The Burger Heavyweights were at it again this past Thursday, June 11, 2009 - Destination: Trailer Park Lounge. If you have not been to Trailer Park, you have no idea what you are missing... read more

5/20/09 - Burger Heavyweights Visit Shake Shack - This past Wednesday, May 20, 2009, I (Jason) met up with some of the NYC burger heavyweights at Shake Shack to grab a burger... read more

4/27/09 - Burger Challenge - In 2008, Darren and I went to the Indianapolis 500 (our first car race, which turned out to be a lot of fun). Darren's friends, who recently moved from NYC back home to Indiana, are familiar with our quest to find great burgers and told us we had to go to Bub's Burgers and Ice Cream... read more

4/24/09 - Picking Blind - For those BOTM Members bold or crazy enough (or those who are unprepared for their turn to select a burger) there is the ‘Blind Pick’. This means that the nominated burger has never been tried by the person nominating it... read more

4/21/09 - What Makes the Perfect Burger? The perfect burger is a compilation of its individual parts, with each one working in harmony with the other. Therefore, in order to describe the perfect burger each component must be described individually, then properly assembled... read more

4/15/09 - BOTM Eats 15 Pound Burger - When we heard that there was a pub within driving distance of New York that served a 15 pound hamburger, we had no choice but to immediately begin planning a road trip. I mean think about that – FIFTEEN POUNDS OF HAMBURGER – that is two times the size of most newborn babies – and equal to 60 quarter pounders from McDonalds.... read more